John Chrysostom, On the Praises of Saint Paul the Apostle

and yielded, and healings of demons, and feasts, and festivals, and ancestral customs, and corruptions of laws, and angers of peoples, and threats of tyrants, and plots of kinsmen, and villainies of false apostles; but rather, just as when a ray of light arises, darkness is driven away, and wild beasts sink down and from then on lie in their dens, and robbers flee, and murderers take refuge in caves, and pirates depart, and grave-robbers withdraw, and adulterers and thieves and burglars, since they are about to be exposed by the ray of light, go off somewhere far away and hide themselves, and all things become transparent and bright, both land and sea, with the ray of light from above illuminating everything, the seas, the mountains, the lands, the cities; so indeed then also, when the preaching appeared, and Paul was sowing it everywhere, error was driven away, and truth returned, and the savor of sacrifice and smoke, and cymbals and drums, and drunkennesses and revelries, and fornications, and adulteries, and the other things which it is not even good to speak of, the things performed in the temples of idols, ceased and were consumed, being melted like wax by fire, being consumed like chaff by a flame; but the bright flame of truth went up brilliant and high to heaven itself, being lifted up by the very ones who tried to hinder it, and being increased by those who put obstacles in its way; and not even danger checked its course and its irresistible momentum, not the tyranny of most ancient custom, not the strength of ancestral habits and laws, not the unacceptability of the teaching of the laws, not any other of the things mentioned.

4.19 And that you may learn how great this is, threaten the Greeks, I do not say with dangers and deaths and famine, but with a small loss of money, and you will see them change immediately. But our affairs are not such, but while all were being cut down and slaughtered, and warred against everywhere, and in various ways of wars, these things became more flourishing. And why do I speak of the present Greeks now, the paltry and contemptible ones? Let us bring forward into the midst those admirable men of that time, those renowned for philosophy, Plato, Diagoras, the one from Clazomenae, and many others like them, and you will see then the strength of the preaching. For after the hemlock of Socrates, some went away to Megara, fearing lest they suffer the same things; and others fell from their country and their freedom, and beyond one woman, they accomplished nothing else; and the man from Citium, having abandoned the state in his writings, thus destroyed it. And yet at that time there was nothing to hinder, no danger, no private status, but they were also skilled in speaking, and they had plenty of money, and they happened to be from a country celebrated by all; but they accomplished nothing. For such is error, even when no one harasses it, it collapses; such is truth, even when many war against it, it is aroused. 4.20 And these things the very truth of the facts proclaims, and there is no need of words or of sayings, as the inhabited world from every side sends forth its voice, the cities, the fields, the land, the sea, the inhabited world, the uninhabited, those on the mountain tops. For he did not leave even the desert without a share of his good deed, but he also filled it especially with the good things which he came bringing to us from heaven, through the tongue of Paul, through the grace implanted in him. For since he provided a zeal worthy of the gift, the grace also shone forth abundantly, and the greater part of the things mentioned were achieved through his tongue. 4.21 Since, therefore, God so honored our race, as to deem one man worthy to be the cause of so many achievements, let us be zealous, let us imitate, let us strive to become like him ourselves as well, and let us not think this to be impossible. For what I have often said, this I will not cease to say, that in him the body was the same as ours, and the food the same, and the soul the same; but the choice was great, and the zeal

καὶ παρεχώρει, καὶ δαιμόνων θεραπεῖαι, καὶ ἑορταί, καὶ πανηγύρεις, καὶ πάτρια ἔθη, καὶ νόμων διαφθοραί, καὶ δήμων θυμοί, καὶ τυράννων ἀπειλαί, καὶ οἰκείων ἐπιβουλαί, καὶ ψευδαποστόλων κακουργίαι· μᾶλλον δέ, καθάπερ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἀνισχούσης, καὶ σκότος ἐλαύνεται, καὶ θηρία καταδύεται καὶ φωλεύει λοιπόν, καὶ λῃσταὶ δραπετεύουσι, καὶ ἀνδροφόνοι περὶ τὰ σπήλαια καταφεύγουσι, καὶ πειραταὶ ἀφίστανται, καὶ τυμβωρύχοι ἀναχωροῦσι, καὶ μοιχοὶ καὶ κλέπται καὶ τοιχωρύχοι, ἅτε ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἐλέγχεσθαι μέλλοντες, ἀπελθόντες που μακρὰν ἑαυτοὺς ἀφανίζουσι, καὶ πάντα διαφανῆ καὶ λαμπρὰ γίνεται, καὶ γῆ, καὶ θάλαττα, τῆς ἀκτῖνος ἄνωθεν πάντα καταυγαζούσης, τὰ πελάγη, τὰ ὄρη, τὰς χώρας, τὰς πόλεις· οὕτω δὴ καὶ τότε τοῦ κηρύγματος φανέντος, καὶ τοῦ Παύλου πανταχοῦ τοῦτο διασπείροντος, ἠλαύνετο μὲν ἡ πλάνη, ἐπανῄει δὲ ἡ ἀλήθεια, κνῖσαι δὲ καὶ καπνός, καὶ κύμβαλα καὶ τύμπανα, καὶ μέθαι καὶ κῶμοι, καὶ πορνεῖαι, καὶ μοιχεῖαι, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα, ἃ μηδὲ εἰπεῖν καλόν, τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς τῶν εἰδώλων τελούμενα ἔληγε καὶ ἐδαπανᾶτο, καθάπερ κηρὸς ὑπὸ πυρὸς τηκόμενα, καθάπερ ἄχυρα ὑπὸ φλογὸς δαπανώμενα· ἡ δὲ λαμπρὰ τῆς ἀληθείας φλὸξ ἀνῄει φαιδρὰ καὶ ὑψηλὴ πρὸς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν, ὑπ' αὐτῶν τῶν κωλυόντων αἰρομένη, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἐμποδιζόντων αὐξανομένη· καὶ οὐδὲ κίνδυνος ἐπεῖχεν αὐτῆς τὴν φορὰν καὶ τὴν ῥύμην τὴν ἀκάθεκτον, οὐ συνηθείας τυραννὶς παλαιοτάτης, οὐ πατρίων ἐθῶν καὶ νόμων ἰσχύς, οὐ τὸ τῆς διδασκαλίας τῶν νόμων δυσπαράδεκτον, οὐκ ἄλλο τῶν εἰρημένων οὐδέν.

4.19 Καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς ἡλίκον τοῦτό ἐστιν, ἀπείλησον τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, οὐ λέγω κινδύνους καὶ θανάτους καὶ λιμόν, ἀλλ' ὀλίγην ζημίαν χρημάτων, καὶ ὄψει μεταβαλλομένους εὐθέως. Ἀλλ' οὐ τὰ ἡμέτερα τοιαῦτα, ἀλλὰ πάντων κατακοπτομένων καὶ σφαζομένων, καὶ πανταχοῦ πολεμουμένων, καὶ ποικίλοις τρόποις πολέμων, ἀνθηρότερα ταῦτα ἐγίνετο. Καὶ τί λέγω τοὺς παρόντας Ἕλληνας νῦν, τοὺς εὐτελεῖς καὶ εὐκαταφρονήτους; Τοὺς τότε θαυμαστοὺς παραγάγωμεν εἰς μέσον, τοὺς ἐπὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ βεβοημένους, τὸν Πλάτωνα, τὸν ∆ιαγόραν, τὸν Κλαζομένιον, καὶ ἑτέρους πολλοὺς τοιούτους, καὶ ὄψει τότε τοῦ κηρύγματος τὴν ἰσχύν. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ κώνειον τοῦ Σωκράτους, οἱ μὲν εἰς Μέγαρα ἀπῆλθον, δεδοικότες μὴ τὰ αὐτὰ πάθωσιν· οἱ δὲ καὶ τῆς πατρίδος καὶ τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἐξέπεσον, καὶ πλέον μιᾶς γυναικός, οὐδενὸς ἑτέρου περιεγένοντο· ὁ δὲ Κιτιεὺς ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν ἀφεὶς τὴν πολιτείαν, οὕτω κατέλυσε. Καίτοι οὐδὲν ἦν τότε τὸ ἐμποδίζον, οὐ κίνδυνος, οὐκ ἰδιωτεία, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεινοὶ λέγειν ἦσαν, καὶ χρημάτων εὐπόρουν, καὶ τῆς παρὰ πᾶσι βοωμένης πατρίδος ἐτύγχανον ὄντες· ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἴσχυσαν. Τοιοῦτον γὰρ ἡ πλάνη, καὶ μηδενὸς ἐνοχλοῦντος, καταρρεῖ· τοιοῦτον ἡ ἀλήθεια, καὶ πολλῶν πολεμούντων, διεγείρεται. 4.20 Καὶ ταῦτα αὐτὴ ἡ τῶν πραγμάτων ἀλήθεια βοᾷ καὶ οὐδὲν δεῖ λόγων, οὐδὲ ῥημάτων, τῆς οἰκουμένης πάντοθεν φωνὴν ἀφιείσης, τῶν πόλεων, τῶν ἀγρῶν, τῆς γῆς, τῆς θαλάττης, τῆς οἰκουμένης, τῆς ἀοικήτου, τῶν ἐν ταῖς ἀκρωρείαις. Οὐδὲ γὰρ τὴν ἔρημον ἀφῆκεν ἄμοιρον τῆς εὐεργεσίας αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν μάλιστα ἐνέπλησεν, ὧν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φέρων ἦλθεν ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν, διὰ τῆς Παύλου γλώττης, διὰ τῆς χάριτος τῆς ἐντεθείσης αὐτῷ. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀξίαν τῆς δωρεᾶς προθυμίαν παρέσχετο, καὶ δαψιλὴς ἡ χάρις ἐξέλαμψε, καὶ τὰ πλείονα τῶν εἰρημένων διὰ τῆς τούτου κατωρθώθη γλώττης. 4.21 Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὕτω τὸ γένος ἡμῶν ἐτίμησεν ὁ Θεός, ὡς ἕνα ἄνθρωπον καταξιῶσαι τοσούτων γενέσθαι κατορθωμάτων αἴτιον, ζηλώσωμεν, μιμησώμεθα, σπουδάσωμεν γενέσθαι κατ' ἐκεῖνον καὶ ἡμεῖς, καὶ μὴ ἀδύνατον τοῦτο εἶναι νομίζωμεν. Ὃ γὰρ πολλάκις εἶπον, τοῦτο λέγων οὐ παύσομαι, ὅτι καὶ σῶμα ἐν αὐτῷ τὸ αὐτὸ ἦν ἡμῖν, καὶ τροφαὶ αἱ αὐταί, καὶ ψυχὴ ἡ αὐτή· ἀλλ' ἡ προαίρεσις μεγάλη, καὶ ἡ προθυμία